beneath them. I have no doubt that, in their own way, they were
telling each other all about it.



MEEKO THE MISCHIEF-MAKER

There is a curious Indian legend about Meeko the red
squirrel--the Mischief-Maker, as the Milicetes call him--which is
also an excellent commentary upon his character. Simmo told it to
me, one day, when we had caught Meeko coming out of a
woodpecker's hole with the last of a brood of fledgelings in his
mouth, chuckling to himself over his hunting.

Long ago, in the days when Clote Scarpe ruled the animals, Meeko
was much larger than he is now, large as Mooween the bear. But
his temper was so fierce, and his disposition so altogether bad
that all the wood folk were threatened with destruction. Meeko
killed right and left with the temper of a weasel, who kills from
pure lust of blood. So Clote Scarpe, to save the little
woods-people, made Meeko smaller--small as he is now.
Unfortunately, Clote Scarpe forgot Meeko's disposition; that
remained as big and as bad as before. So now Meeko goes about the
woods with a small body and a big temper, barking, scolding,
quarreling and, since he cannot destroy in his rage as before,
setting other animals by the ears to destroy each other.

When you have listened to Meeko's scolding for a season, and have
seen him going from nest to nest after innocent fledgelings; or
creeping into the den of his big cousin, the beautiful gray